Blow [2001]

Based on a book “Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All”, written by Bruce Porter, Blow is a movie about George Jung, a cocaine smuggler who was one of the major players back in the seventies and eighties. Starring Johnny and Penelope, this is a one those big, commercial movies with an interesting and somewhat controversial story. I remember watching it back in the day and thinking: damn, we need more movies about this shit. Since then, numerous series and documentaries, regarding drug smuggling, have been released. You can even say that the sub-genre is somewhat saturated, especially considering what Breaking Bad series is doing. Blow features phenomenal costimography and set design, taking you to a different era, an era where cocaine ruled the world…

George Jung decides to move to Los Angeles, along with his best friend Tuna, in search of better life and money. Soon, George befriends a stewardess and they begin hatching plans how to use her occupation and her special privileges on airports to smuggle marijuana into USA. After the first success, George will realize that the life of crime is something that’s his life calling and begins moving up the ladder…

Oddly enough, just one year after this movie was released, director Ted Demme died during a basketball game, with the toxicology report showing that he was positive for cocaine. Rest in peace, Ted. I already mentioned two of the main stars, but there are a lot of great supporting roles here. Just take Ethan Suplee who was great as George’s best friend Tuna. Franka Potente, Paul Reubens, Cliff Curtisand especially Ray Liotta all contributed equally. Although this may seem like a standard issue American Dream – Crime Edition story, it’s far from it. This is basically a story what would happen if ordinary people started dealing drugs. They become too self-involved, burdened by constant improvisation and without much thought to the mid and long term future. George had everything and lost it all, because all the money and all the drugs in the world cannot help you to run away from yourself. So, this is not a story about some super capable and smart guy, but a story of what might happen if you mix these ingredients together. Finally, just one more thing about that script and Johnny’s “fuck” that he keeps saying every time something goes wrong, it’s fucking epic.